In her first monograph, The Notion of Family (Aperture, 2014), Guggenheim Fellow LaToya Ruby Frazier explores the legacy of racism and economic decline in post-industrial American small towns, as embodied by her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania. Photographing herself, her mother, and her grandmother Ruby, as well as the Braddock community, Frazier’s body of work is a highly personal and politically charged statement about the history of industrial decline and its effect on familial and communal relationships. While acknowledging the history of traditional black-and-white documentary photography, Frazier’s approach serves as an intervention in the histories and narratives of the region, through a multigenerational lens.Momme (Shadow), 2008, depicts the deadpan gaze of the photographer, with Frazier’s mother, a “coauthor, artist, photographer, and subject,” in the foreground, eyes closed and facing out of the frame. The image offers insight into their relationship, which Frazier explains “primarily exists through the process of making images.” In the creation of these collaborative works, Frazier reinforces the idea of art and image-making as a transformative act, a means of resetting traditional power dynamics and narratives, both those of her family and those of the community at large.
